gravlax
{{Short description|Nordic dish consisting of raw salmon cured in salt, sugar, and dill}}
{{refimprove|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox prepared food
| name = Gravlax
| image = Laxrätter.jpg
| image_size = 250px
| caption = Salmon dishes: gravlax in the middle, cold-smoked on the left and warm-smoked on the right
| alternate_name = Gravad lax, grav(ad)laks, gravad laks
| country = Nordic countries
| region =
| creator =
| course = Hors d'oeuvre
| type =
| served =
| main_ingredient = salmon, salt, sugar, dill/spruce
| variations =
| calories =
| other =
}}
File:Gravlax med hovmästarsås.jpg
Gravlax ({{IPA|sv|ˈgrɑ̂ːvlakːs|lang}}), gravlaks or graved salmon is a Nordic dish consisting of salmon that is cured using a mix of salt, sugar and dill. It is garnished with fresh dill or sprucetwigs{{cite book|title=Nya stora kokboken|trans-title=New Big Cookbook|first=Karin|last=Fredrikson|publisher=Wezäta|location=Gothenburg|year=1963|page=229|lang=sv}}{{cite book|title=Bonniers kokbok|trans-title=Bonniers cookbook|lang=sv|first1=Birgit|last1=Hemberg|first2=Fredrik|last2=Eriksson|publisher=Bonnierförlagens Press|date=16 August 2005|page=267|isbn=9789100103781}} and may occasionally be cold-smoked afterwards. Gravlax is usually served as an appetizer, sliced thinly and accompanied by a dill and mustard sauce known as {{Lang|sv|hovmästarsås}} (Also known in Sweden as {{Lang|sv|gravlaxsås}}, in Norway as {{Lang|no|sennepssaus}}, literally 'mustard sauce', in Denmark as {{Lang|da|rævesovs}}, literally 'fox sauce', in Iceland as {{Lang|is|graflaxsósa}}, and in Finland as {{Lang|fi|hovimestarinkastike}}, literally 'butler's sauce'), either on bread or with boiled potatoes.
Etymology
The word {{Lang|sv|gravlax}} comes from the Northern Germanic word {{Lang|gmq|gräva/grave}} ('to dig'; modern sense 'to cure (fish)') which goes back to the Proto-Germanic {{Lang|gem-x-proto|*grabą}}, {{Lang|gem-x-proto|*grabō}} ('hole in the ground; ditch, trench; grave') and the Indo-European root {{Lang|ine-x-proto|*gʰrebʰ-}} 'to dig, to scratch, to scrape',{{cite web|url=http://g3.spraakdata.gu.se/saob/show.phtml?filenr=1/88/46.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304200115/http://g3.spraakdata.gu.se/saob/show.phtml?filenr=1/88/46.html|archive-date=4 March 2016|work=Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Swedish Academy Dictionary]|title=GRAV|lang=sv}} and {{Lang|sv|lax}}/{{Lang|no|laks}}, 'salmon'.
History
During the Middle Ages, gravlax was made by fishermen, who salted the salmon and lightly fermented it by burying it in the sand above the high-tide line. Perhaps the oldest reference is found in 1348 in Diplomatarium Norvegicum {{cite web |last1=Charter 251, 25 January 1348 |title=Diplomatarium Norvegicum |url=https://www.dokpro.uio.no/cgi-bin/middelalder/diplom_vise_tekst.cgi?b=2541&s=e&str= |access-date=15 November 2024}} as the nickname of a man named Óláfr, who was a delegate in a salmon fishery.{{cite journal |last1=Lidén |first1=Evald |title=Äldre Nordiska Tillnamn |journal=Studier i Nordisk Filologi |date=1910 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=21-22 |url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.$b418982 |access-date=15 November 2024}}
Fermentation is no longer used in the production process. Instead the salmon is "buried" in a dry marinade of salt, sugar, and dill, and cured for between twelve hours and a few days. As the salmon cures, osmosis moves moisture out of the fish and into the salt and sugar, turning the dry mixture into a highly concentrated brine, which can be used in Scandinavian cooking as part of a sauce.{{cite book|title=Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing|first1=Michael|last1=Ruhlman|author1-link=Michael Ruhlman|first2=Brian|last2=Polcyn|first3=Yevgenity|last3=Solovyev|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|date=10 September 2013|isbn=978-0393240054|pages=51–52}} This same method of curing can be employed for any fatty fish, but salmon is the most commonly used.
See also
{{Portal|Food}}
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
- {{annotated link|Cured fish}}
- {{annotated link|Carpaccio}}
- {{annotated link|Gwamegi}}
- {{annotated link|Hákarl}}
- {{annotated link|List of hors d'oeuvre}}
- {{annotated link|List of raw fish dishes}}
- {{annotated link|Lox}}
- {{annotated link|Rakfisk}}
- {{annotated link|Sashimi}}
- {{annotated link|Surströmming}}
{{div col end}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Wiktionary}}
{{Cookbook}}
{{Commons category|Gravad lax}}
{{Salmon dishes}}
{{salmon}}
{{seafood}}